Just a Smidge of Over-Duplication
by IvyVine6
Summary: The testing of Danny's duplication ability goes more than a little awry, with not-so-normal consequences. Splitting yourself apart is hard enough, but having to deal with a malfunctioning core is just downright painful. Set shortly after 'D-Stabilized'. Inspired by sponges, ghost anatomy speculations, and a good bet to actually write this crazy story. Bottom line: Things get weird.
1. Cold Core Shock

**[A/N]:** _Welcome! Just a heads up, this story is strange, to say the least. Not creepily, but darkly odd. Prepare yourself for anything, especially ghost bonding and anatomy speculations, and how they differ from humans._

_Please, enjoy this story for what it is, and what it shall be. It'll grow with multiple chapters, and probably be more than a little weird._

_Thank you for reading this thus far. It is greatly appreciated._

**UPDATED:**_ 9/19/2014_

* * *

"Come on, dude! You're on fire!"

Eight duplicate Danny Phantoms easily littered the Fenton's basement of a lab. At Tucker's shout, all of them grinned widely, and two more popped into existence.

"I dunno, guys, I'm really feelin' it. How many do you think I can handle?" All of the Dannys echoed at once, making the lab reverberate with the eerie sound. Their green eyes glowed with amusement.

"FIFTY-MILLION!"

The trio was currently testing the half-ghost's abilities, and so far, Danny was showing improvement from the previous week's session.

Another pair of laughing phantoms floated through the air.

Okay. Make that a_ lot_ of improvement.

Tucker continued to root his ghostly friend on. Glaring, Sam elbowed the beret-wearer hard in the side. The classic jab made every half-ghost duplicate in the room snicker, barely hiding it behind their hands.

"Tucker! We don't want him to max out. Last week he could only manage six!" The spunky Goth crossed her arms defiantly. "And now it's suddenly double that? What gives?

Tucker only shrugged.

One of the Dannys, who Sam and Tucker assumed was the main strategist, floated over to the two. He visibly bounced on the balls of his feet in the air, giddy with excitement. Looking up at him, the ghost boy's already brilliant glow seemed to flare ever so slightly. Then he blinked, and yet another set of copies sprung to 'life', coalescing from mist straight off of the ghost boy. They soared through the limited space of the lab, snorting like they'd just heard the joke of the century.

The other duplicates across the room seemed to be locked in a contest of particularly witty banter. They kept challenging each other at eye level, snarky comments all around as they floated higher, struggling for dominance.

"I can't _believe _you don't want to play blackjack. It's like, my favorite." One of the doubles grumbled, card deck in hand.

"Well you need to shave! Get rid of all that nasty peach fuzz."

"Dude! We've got the same freaking face!"

Danny crossed his legs in midair and floated like he was leaning against a wall, barely keeping up the casual image. Green light danced in his eyes. In a half-fist, he thrust his thumb over his shoulder at the crowd of duplicates.

"Man, I'm lovin' this. Definitely some of my best work!" The smile was huge on his face. Tucker and Sam looked past him to get another look at the jumble of flailing Phantoms.

"Hey! Why don't you go sit down, old man? That hair of yours is gettin'_ pretty _snowy. You cold, too?"

One of the hovering duplicates shook a finger at another, who was rooted to the floor. The defender narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, attitude! What're you gonna do? _Freeze me_—"

An ice blast that anchored the offending copy to the ground solved that problem.

"Augh, come _onnn_! You know I hate to break my masterpieces…"

The ice-fond doppelganger sniffed indignantly as he drifted through the floor.

A few yards away, another double floated higher than the rest, sitting cross-legged in the air like a full time meditations instructor. A handful of Phantoms were surrounding him, miffed expressions plain as day.

"Seriously, guys. It's obvious that _I'm _taller."

The real Danny sheepishly grinned at his two friends.

Sam pointedly rolled her eyes. "Yeah. A real achievement."

Danny only laughed harder at the comment. However, the supposedly taller duplicate was zapped by a few quick ghost rays from the others, and the original ghost boy visibly winced. Sam looked up sharply and opened her mouth, no doubt to reprimand him for pushing himself, but he cut her off.

"Really, Sam. This is like, the highest energy spike I've had, ever." He spun in the air, a glimmering smile on his face. "It's like I drank six hundred freaking espressos that were loaded with sugar."

Tucker grinned. "Those things are practically pure caffeine. And an excellent side to a dozen donuts."

Sam huffed disbelievingly, but that easily broke into chuckles. "Heh, you know, they actually are."

The ghost boy was grinning like the Cheshire cat. "When I get my allowance, we're _so_ going out for donuts." A duplicate fluttered by right then, and Danny high-fived himself. Literally.

The boy's eyes glowed a brighter green, and he swooped up into the air.

"Geez. This feels awesome!" Phantom pumped his fists. "How many am I at now? Fourteen? It feels like I'm everywhere at once." At that moment, one of the copies phased up from the floor.

"Okay, not like. I _am_." He circled around Tucker.

"Come on, Tuck. Dare me. Let's see how many times I can copy myself." He crossed his arms with a smirk.

"Danny!" Sam took a step forward. "You need to be smart about this. We don't know what your limit is with duplication ri—"

"Pfft, Sam, please," the teen waved her off reassuringly for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"I'm fine. I'm _Danny Phantom_. Public Ghost Enemy Number One, remember?" He confidently made air quotes with his gloved hands. "I've _got_ this," he argued, shooting a glance Sam's way. The dark-clothed teen groaned and smacked her forehead in defeat.

"You're all idiots."

In response, every one of the duplicates in the room turned to her in a single movement and uttered a snarky, "_Suuuure _we are, Sam."

The girl made another eyeroll as the ridiculous males giggled like mad. She sighed, plopping herself down in one of the lab's rigid chairs, deciding to watch.

Tucker chimed in. "Yeah! Okay man, cough up two more!"

"On it!"

The main Danny glowed brighter than last time, and two copies split from him. They too joined the large mass of doubles, who were now mixed up in some kind of unearthly card game with the spare deck from the argument earlier.

However, this time, as the new doubles split from Danny, his hand shot to his chest, and he took a big gulp of air.

"Whoa. I felt _that _one." He shook himself. "But I think I can handle one more time till I reach my limit. Should I go for it?" He chuckled, and floated stoically up and down with his arms neatly folded, a determined gleam in his bright green eyes.

"No!"

"Yes!"

Ignoring Sam's response and taking Tucker's word for it, Danny prepared to duplicate himself again. He curled his limbs in towards his center, concentrating harder. Shaking with the effort, he forced upon himself the familiar feeling in his icy core; to split, to expand, to _copy_.

But just as he felt the last pulse of energy needed for the split, something within him _snapped_. Jarred his very being. White light flashed, but he didn't change back to his human form. His green eyes flew open with a start. The tiniest of gasps escaped his lips. Time seemed to stop as he hung in midair, but Clockwork was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly he plummeted. All of the copies of the famous ghost boy dissolved into nothing but mist. Cards dropped. One last laugh from a duplicate, winning blackjack, filled the air. The original crashed to the lab floor in a heap, making a loud thud. His two friends immediately rushed forward, concern etched onto their faces.

"Danny? Hey, can you hear me? Danny!"

The world was a blur. The white-haired boy heard voices, felt the feeling of being pushed onto his back. He felt his core pulse with cold. Felt a tingling. _Like a shivering spark—_

The slap across the face from Sam sent him reeling.

He sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. Dazed, Danny shook his head, as if to clear it. His green eyes found Sam's violet ones, but he couldn't get any words out. His core felt like it was sizzling. He gripped at his chest. His mind geared at a mile a minute. Finally, he found his voice.

"What the living _hell _was that?!"

Sam opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by loud footsteps from upstairs. The trio whipped their heads towards the basement steps. Danny's breath hitched in his throat. A bluish white mist came past his lips, and his eyes widened to startled green orbs. He forced his breathing to calm.

"Danny? Sam…Tucker? Are you kids down there?" Maddie's worried voice sounded hauntingly near.

"Busted. Oh crap." Tucker bounced up from where he was kneeling next to Danny. The ghostly teen shot him a weak glare. With what little strength and speed he had left, the boy clad in the black hazmat suit latched onto both of his friends' arms and shoved his feet on the ground, launching them up towards the ceiling. At the last moment before impact, he turned intangible and blasted through the first floor, straight up to the second, and stopped in his room, letting go of his passengers. He sprawled onto the carpet.

Tucker leaned against his friend's blue bed. Sam knelt next to the half-ghost's side, her hand on his shoulder. She shook him gently. She nearly recoiled at how cold he felt, but the strong-willed Sam Manson in her remained firm.

"Danny?"

The black hazmat suited figure groaned, and the remainder of the trio sighed in relief. Twitching with the effort, he got up onto his hands and knees, still trying to catch his breath, trembling with each intake. Green eyes dimly looked around, and the ghostly aura faded to an extremely dull glow. He faced downward, at his shaking hands on the carpet.

"You okay, man? You look really drained," Tucker questioned, stepping closer.

Again, Danny shook his head, silvery-white hair flopping back and forth neatly. He shuddered. Within his core, icy chills made his ecto-interior spasm. He gasped, and another wisp of his ghost sense spilled forth. But at that moment, none of them, except maybe Danny, with that damn hero complex of his, were really ready to take on another ghost. The teen hero already looked like he'd lost to some invisible enemy.

Sam and Tucker exchanged a glance, and the latter edged nearer. They could only wait for their friend to regain himself.

Eventually, Danny's breathing regulated, although he still looked stricken. Tiny shivers coursed through him. A dull, cold ache throbbed from within his core. He put a shaky hand to his chest and sat up.

"Dude, what _happened_?" Tucker's teal eyes flicked between Sam and Danny.

"I…I dunno. I feel…_weird_." He splayed his fingers overtop of the DP logo. "Like something…like something just frickin' punched me right in the ghost core." Sam looked over at him, and then to her own hand as she took it away from his shoulder. It was strangely numb.

"Well, you're really cold. Like, colder than usual, anyway." She turned slightly to face him. "Maybe something's up with your ice core?" The Goth looked at his slightly shaking form quizzically.

"Yeah…maybe." He stood with newfound strength, trying to suppress the odd feeling. His surrounding glow flickered back to life, regaining some more light. "But whatever it was, I think it's passed."

Danny shuddered once more and blue mist formed near his face. Just then, a familiarly annoying laugh sounded from out in the street, right outside of FentonWorks. The trio of ghost hunters glanced to the window, Danny rolling his eyes.

"Ugh. Not him again."

"I am the Box Ghost! BEWARE!"

"Hold on, guys. This'll only take a sec." The half-ghost quickly lifted into the air and phased out of the bluish room.

"But Danny wait—" The boy had already pushed through the wall; Sam's urgent voice falling on deaf ears, save for Tucker. He shrugged it off.

"Nah, he'll be fine. It's just the Box Ghost. What's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

"Look . I've already sent you back to the Ghost Zone _twice_ today. And I'm _really_ not in the mood for chores." He shot a blazing green ecto-ray towards the Box Ghost, hitting him square in the chest. He held up the thermos hastily.

"Just get in here, okay? You're not even scary. The _Lunch Lady's_ worse than you."

The Box Ghost seethed in anger, and raised a generous amount of cardboard boxes, filled with art craft supplies from the store across the street. The hunched blue ghost grinned madly at the label. _Paint - Pt BTLS._

"I'll show _you _who's scary with my COLORFULLY RECTANGULAR BOXES OF **_DOOM_**!" He sent the horde flying towards the halfa, who dodged them all with ease, simply turning intangible as the last few came soaring by.

"Ha! You're too easy! I _swear_, I'm gonna beat you with one—" He stopped suddenly, a fresh onslaught of cold erupting from his core. _What? Nononono. Stay up, stay **up**. _He cringed, still suspended fifteen feet above the blacktopped road, and started to curl in on himself. **_No._** He gritted his teeth, hard. The thermos dropped to the ground with a clang.

Phantom struggled to regain control. It felt like ice was crystallizing under his ectoplasmic skin, rocking his core with a force that made him gasp out in pain. It felt like something was squeezing his ghost center, waiting for it to splatter into ectoplasmic goop. A scream escaped him. A sensation that felt like fingers of ice clawing their way out of his core made him grip harder at his chest.

The Box Ghost took his chance. While the ghost boy fidgeted, hung up in the air, he levitated a particularly large box, one filled with a heap of printer cartridges. It was more than enough to last a week in a print shop. Without hesitation, the overall-wearing ghost chucked the massive package straight at his enemy.

It hit effectively, knocking a squirming Phantom almost fifty feet into the dark alley behind him, a darker shadow looming in the already pitch dark of night. His echo of a voice could be heard screeching in pain.

Triumphant as ever, the ghost of boxes stopped for a moment.

"I…I actually _hit _him! Ye…yeah!" He threw his chunky arms up in the air in sheer excitement. "I won against the precious _Ghost Boy._ I am the all-powerful BOX GHOST! BE—"

"Oh, will you _shut up_?" A brilliant blue light flashed through the air, aimed directly at the hunched blue ghost, and it started to suck him into the Fenton Thermos.

"WAAAAAAAARE…!"

Sam capped the thermos with a huff.

"Glad _that's _over." She looked over to Tucker, who'd started towards the alley where Danny had been thrown. He was hastily picking his way through leaking puddles of paint and smushed boxes.

"Did you find him yet, Tuck?" Sam called. The boy halted in his tracks, his back turned to her. "Tucker?"

"Yeah…" His voice quivered like he'd gulped, and he turned ever so slightly to look back at her. Sam, who'd been working her way over through the debris, stopped cold when she saw the dreaded expression on his face.

"Uh…Sam?"


	2. Phantomly Members

_**[AN]:** Hello again! And wow. Thank you so much for all of the favorites and follows. I didn't expect to gain that many so fast!_

_However, I have one small request: If you can, please evaluate my writing in either review or PM form. I'd really appreciate it if I got some feedback. Oddly enough, I would actually enjoy some criticism. For instance, where can I improve in my writing?_

_Anyhoo, I hope you have a grand day, and please, enjoy this new chapter._

_I give you, Chapter Two, "Phantomly Members"._

* * *

Sam took a tentative step forward at the mouth of the alley. Her boot clacked loudly on the worn pavement. In the night, she could hardly see a thing, save for an eerie glow reflecting off of the dark green dumpsters to the far side of the space. Just behind and half hidden by them, the source laid, huddled in its shivering form. The weak aura of the ghost boy, slumped on his side, flickered like flames.

Spotting her friend, Sam rushed forward. Tucker was close behind. The suffocating silence was broken when their running footsteps echoed off of the walls. As the Goth and techno geek neared the fallen form, Sam could see him start to stir.

* * *

The halfa weakly rolled from his side and onto his knees, trembling with the effort. Everything felt like it was in the distance, and strangely numb. _What** hit** me…? _One set of his fingers weaved through his snowy hair, while his other hand braced the ground. A shuddering breath found its way out of the half-ghost's mouth. The cool air ripped pulsing ectoplasmic shocks through his core once again. _Where…?_ His gloved hand hit the dank brick wall, struggling for some support. Another, but not his, pushed it back.

For a brief moment in his dazed state, he heard his name, and noticed two figures knelt down next to him. _Sam…? _The boy blinked._ Tuck? _He tried to focus, tried to understand what could have possibly happened, and figure out where he was, but his mind only centered on his core. Something was most definitely not right. The cracking waves of energy that he felt weren't normal; they_ hurt_.

He fully lowered himself to the ground, no longer attempting to stay on his hands and knees. He again curled up on his left side, trying to ward off the painful cold that was creeping up inside of him. The young half-ghost had an internal war going on: the battle between the exhilarating and yet soothing chill of his core, which he welcomed, and the painful stabs of energy that seemed to come out of nowhere and emanate from his center at the same time.

And the thing was, he could feel an extremely foreign sensation within his core. It was like something was pulling him somewhere, like a longing that was so strong it was forceful enough to_ drag him home_. But at this point, he had no idea what home was for him, at least by what his ghost core sought. He felt the longing of ice, accompanied by the need of home, but his current stay wasn't anything close to being a frozen wasteland. However, laced beneath the strange homesickness, a deeper emotion lingered. The ghost boy felt an oddly protective instinct spike in him, and he gritted his teeth, hard.

He gasped again as another tremor shot through him, spreading the prickly feeling of frost within. He knew it all too well.

* * *

It was as if he was made of ice. When Sam had moved his hand back from the wall, Danny was utterly freezing. She knew for a fact that he had ice abilities, but this was ridiculous. She studied the shivering black and white shape before her, his dim glow slightly lighting her and Tucker's faces and casting strange shadows.

She shoved the mangled printer cartridge box away from the boy in a sudden impulse of anger. Stupid Box Ghost.

"What's up with him?"

The Goth girl shook her head in response to her dark-skinned friend, noting the tiny ice crystals blossoming all over Phantom. He shivered violently again, and his ghost sense went off. Immediately, and as a force of habit, Tucker and Sam looked wildly around for any danger.

The cooling late-spring night sky was clear enough to see the stars and a half moon. Sam's amethyst eyes darted around, searching for any threat. She edged closer to her half-ghost friend, ready to demolish any ghost that dared near them. Her left hand was on the thermos at her hip; she was prepared to use it at the slightest hint of an enemy. They waited several long moments, able to only listen to Danny's pained breathing.

Another puff of air sprung free, but there was still no ghost in sight. Tucker, from behind his thickly framed glasses, cautiously glanced down at his friend, confusion obvious on his face.

"Okay…That's weird."

Glaring wearily around one last time, Sam turned her attention back to Danny. She placed a hand on his shoulder again, and slightly moved him. She winced at how cold he felt, even through the hazmat suit. She tried to dismiss this with the thought that he was in ghost form, but worry kept lingering over her features. Her expression was that of deep concern.

They all felt a pretty strong sense of déjà vu.

Grinding his teeth, the sixteen year old halfa slowly opened his eyes. The first clear thing he saw were Sam's, and she held his gaze as he blinked his own eyes rapidly. Groaning at the next energy wave crackling beneath his skin, he fumbled with his right hand, eventually spreading his fingers over the place of his core, where a human heart would lie. He curled up tighter.

"Danny? What's wrong?" She shook him again, harder this time, ignoring the chill. "Does it…hurt?"

"_Everything_."

The black-haired girl stopped moving him, but kept her hands on his shoulder. Worriedly, she peered closer at the half-ghost in front of her. He trembled, and for several long minutes, the two friends just stayed there, waiting for another response from him.

It finally came, his eyes snapping open in agitation. His dark brows furrowed together.

"Oh man…I can't _believe_ I got pummeled by the friggin' _Box Ghost_." He sounded angry with himself.

"Danny—" She cut herself off when she felt the ice coming off of him encase her fingertips in silvery frost. She quickly drew her hands away, wiping them on her dark skirt to get the cold fragments to melt away.

The ghost boy made a pained noise. His luminescent green eyes lingered on the hand covering his chest, and Sam noticed he saw the frosty ice crystals slowly covering him. He hastily took it away and rubbed his arms.

"Not again…"

Sam's eyes snapped to his.

"What not again?" She moved closer still. She knew he wasn't referring to the incident in the lab. "Danny, do you know what's going on?" The boy hesitated, and Sam's gaze sharpened.

"Yeah," he grunted out. "Like…like that time with Undergrowth I…told you guys about." He swallowed, trying to get order into his wavering voice. "Frostbite helped me…help…with…" The boy shuddered again with a cry, bringing both hands to his chest as he felt another icy jab from his core.

"It's gonna be okay, man. We're not gonna let you freeze." Tucker put a comforting hand to his friend's back, only to scowl at the cold. He could feel the chilly pulses beneath his fingertips. The frost particles caked the hazmat suit.

"But…it wasn't like this." Danny shook his head as he lay on his side, giving the gesture an odd look. He tried to force the cold down. Sam gave him a quick stare as he again attempted to sit up.

"What do you mean?" Filling with dread and wringing her hands in her lap, she asked the question.

"I…I dunno. This feels different. And," he said, rubbing his head, "it's…worse. Somehow." He laid a hand on his chest, absentmindedly rubbing the spot. He glanced down at his appendage, and flipped it palm-up towards his unusually pale face. His green gaze flicked over every detail of the tiny frost particles forming there.

"Weird."

"Well you can't just shrug it off…" Sam began. The halfa's shining green eyes darted to her and Tucker, then back again.

"I know." He crouched, about to get up. Sam stood and held out a hand for him. Clenching his jaw, he grasped her hand in his, and with the help of Tucker, they dragged him to his feet. The two humans rubbed their hands, trying to rid them of the cold touch.

* * *

"Sorry." He rubbed at his arms again, swaying slightly on his feet. In a few seconds, some color returned to his cheeks, and his aura picked up intensity; the frost seemed to mist right off of him. He let his hands drop to his sides, and he stood taller, as if all of the pain had vanished. _But it hasn't…_ He could still feel the cold, irregular pulses of his core, making him stiffen. Against Sam's own words, he tried to do the exact opposite: shrug it off.

"But I think I should go to Frostbite. See what's up with," he gestured to his core, "this."

Suddenly silvery blue vapor fogged out of the hybrid's mouth, and the entire trio stiffened, entering a battle stance.

"Did somebody say Frostbite? I've _always_ wanted to go to the Far Frozen!" chirped a young female voice from the air. Danny's head whipped around so fast he could've snapped a vertebrae.

"Danielle—" He was tackled before he could properly get the name out.

"Dani!" He half heard Sam and Tucker excitedly chant his clone's name as he looked up with a grin at his family member. She'd been popping up a lot lately, and hanging around Amity ever since he'd helped her to stabilize. Her face lit up with a smile as she gave him another bear hug.

"Ow!" Something in his core shifted in protest against the pressure on his chest. He gently pushed Danielle off of him. A pained expression lingered on his face as he sat up and eventually stood. Her own looked ashen.

"I'm sorry! Did I hurt you—"

He chuckled, brushing it off. "No way." He stood a little taller. "There…might just something up with my core, I think. That's all." He warily averted his eyes to the side, a hand on the back of his neck.

Dani gave him a quizzical look. "Really?" She prodded him. "What does _that_ feel like?"

At that moment, the ghost boy shivered. "Cold."

A smile played on the younger halfa's lips. "More than usual?"

"Pfft. That's what I said." Sam glanced at Danny, crossing her arms. "Promise me you'll get that checked out."

Sighing, he nodded. "Yeah, I'll get to Frostbite's sooner or later. I just have to wait for a chance when Mom and Dad aren't in the lab." He fiddled with his hands.

"They're supposed to start working on something tonight. I just know they'll be down there for _ages._" The boy's shoulders sagged in defeat. "And I don't know what kind of crazy anti-ghost project they've got planned, either."

Tucker put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Come on, dude. I'm sure you'll get a chance."

Danny gratefully looked up at him, suppressing the urge to shiver. "Yeah, I guess so." He ran a hand through his snowy white hair.

"For now, though, I'll just…try to force the cold energy out, like I was taught." Swiftly, he shot a quick freezing blast at the far wall of the alley, making it sparkle icily in the moonlight. He let out a relieved sigh, enjoying the feel of the relaxing cold from within him, lacking the painful pulse. His core seemed to settle down a bit. _Much better..._

Danny smiled broadly when he heard his clone gasp in awe. "So cool…"

Turning to Dani, he straightened.

"So what brings you back here?" He raised an eyebrow. "I've seen you around at least twelve times in the past month. It's a new record." Danielle giggled.

"I dunno. I just feel like I _should_ be here." She spread her arms out to indicate Amity Park. "I just really like it." The little ghost girl hovered a few inches above the ground and shrugged. "Maybe it's the May weather." Danny gave a disbelieving snort.

The younger hybrid gazed over at her relative with big, green eyes, and zoomed closer to give him a gentle embrace. He wrapped his arms around her with practiced ease. "Or maybe it's because you're here."

The older halfa chuckled at this. "Yeah, maybe." Releasing her, Danny floated into the air.

"Or _maybe_ you just want to steal this place for your own haunt," he teased, jabbing a mockingly serious finger in her direction. Danielle, taking to the air, held up her black and white gloved hands in mock surprise.

"What?" She gasped, covering her mouth, practically giggling. "I'd _never _do that!"

Danny spiraled around her and shot up higher into the sky.

She took chase after the older Phantom, the two laughing all the way up to the top of the towering building above their human friends. They landed lightly on the gritty roof, and shared a quick look, full of laughter_. It feels good to be able to do this._ The cool breezes from up that high made Danny hum happily. The ghost boy became aware that his core was far less tense, but still obviously, joyously cold. He relaxed a bit, trying to ignore the fact that he'd just been downed by the Box Ghost. _It was just a little mishap. Don't think about it now. **It** **won't happen again**. _

"Hey!" Tucker's yell snapped him out of his thoughts. Crouching, the two Phantoms peeked over the edge of the roof.

In the alley, Tucker and Sam stood, hands on the straps of their backpacks that were draped over their shoulders. The Goth called up to them, the thermos at her hip glinting in the weak light.

"We're gonna head back. It's gettin' pretty late. If I'm not home by eleven, my mom's probably going to force me into a disgusting pink sundress or something tomorrow morning." The dark-clothed teen made a face. "Ugh."

The tech geek next to her risked a furtive look her way.

"Yeah. You guys go off and do your Phantom thing." Tucker pointed to the distant half-ghosts on the roof and then swung a thumb over his shoulder, back his way. A humorous smile traced his lips. "_I've_ got a date with my sheets."

Danny had to laugh at the choice of words. "Pfft. Alright guys, I'll see you later."

"Just stay safe, Danny!" Sam's echoing call reached him and he smirked, blushing. He tried to act like he couldn't hear Danielle's chortling.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine! Jeesh." The ghost boy waved them off and watched as his best friends left the alleyway behind, melting into darkness. His relative's laughter died down to a faint giggle.

The elder halfa cast a sidelong glare at the younger half-ghost when she'd finally stopped.

"_What?_"

That earned him a snort from Danielle. "Nothing."

The half-ghosts; the original and his clone, sat in silence as they listened to the last of the humans' footsteps click on the paved sidewalk. Danny tried to ignore another pulse of cold from his core.

Shifting, he shot Danielle a quick glance as they stood up on the roof. The starry night sky glimmered overhead. He held out a hand.

"Race ya?"

The smaller halfa folded her arms, a challenging glint in her blazing green eyes.

"_Oh_, you're on, Danny."


	3. Lampposts

_**[A/N]:**__ Yes, hello again._

_Thank you so much for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows! It's great to hear that you guys like my story._

_I give you, Chapter Three, "__**Lampposts**__"!_

_This chapter is more of Danny and Danielle bonding, because, you know, they're awesome family members. It's great to see them kick some ghosts around. Come on._

_Also, this is in Dani's perspective the whole way through, if you were wondering._

* * *

The little ghost girl's gloved hands elegantly latched onto one of the street's lampposts, and she swung around it with a chant of, "I win!"

Only a second behind her, Phantom too, twirled in the air, decelerating his speed higher up on the post. With practiced balance, he sat himself down at the peak of the fixture and looked down at her, legs dangling over the one side of the metal. One of his hands gripped the cool surface. The other was splayed over his chest, the fingers working.

"Okay…" He huffed. "Yeah, you win."

"Whoo!" Danielle cheered, fist pumping.

Immediately, she flung herself up into the air and landed on the top of the light casing of the lamppost, making a tiny _ting_ as she stepped atop it. She stood roughly three feet away from her ghostly relative, giving him the brightest beam of a smile she could muster, her hands on her hips as she struck a heroic pose.

"_That's_ what I call a race."

Danny groaned, rolling his eyes. "Psh. I _let_ you win."

The smaller version of him folded her arms, a chuckle springing from her. She stared him down mockingly.

"Yeah right. I totally kicked your butt." She leaned forward, a smirk present on her face. "You're just mad you're such a _slowpoke_."

Feigning intimidation, the older halfa also folded his arms. "Am not!" He sniffed, shutting his eyes indignantly. "Just tired…" he mumbled.

"_Yeah _you are."

The ghost boy snapped his glowing green eyes open in an instant and launched himself at her, tackling her into the air with a half-laughing yell.

"I'll show _you_ slow!"

"Hey!"

The older Phantom had trapped her in a half-hug and scorched off into the sky. The rush of wind was immediate in their ears. Danielle thought she felt a cold shudder from her relative; however, she dismissed it as a reaction to the chilling sky. Their stark white hair flung back out of their faces, a huge contrast to the calm black of the night. Danny flew at a break-neck speed over Amity Park, the dim glow of the windows and streets passing beneath them in a huge blur of dark and light, vague shapes and colors.

Above, the stars glimmered with the moon hidden behind a few hazy clouds, obscuring the light at odd angles. In the thrilling flight, nothing felt down to Earth. The cool air blasted them relentlessly, but to the two half-ghosts, it felt like an insanely good uplift of their spirits.

Clinging to him, Danielle laughed out into the wind, "Alright, alright! You're fast! Jeesh!"

Flashing an amused smile and slowing to a relaxed pace, he released her, and she flew alongside him.

"Point taken?" he jokingly asked.

"Point taken." Crossing her sleeved arms behind her head, Danielle drifted onto her back, a half-smile lingering on her young face. "I still won, though."

Grumbling, the elder halfa distractedly rubbed at his chest with a gloved hand. "Yeah. If it hadn't been for this stupid problem acting up right…then…" He seemed to flinch, realizing what he'd said.

Startled, the ghost girl looked at him sharply. "You mean during the race—"

"Uh…no..."

The lie was obvious.

Urgently, the younger Phantom cleared the few feet to her kin in a fraction of a second. She wrapped her arms around him, stopping them in midair. The second she touched his form, she felt another arctic sensation flicker underneath her touch. _It _wasn't _just the cold air before._ He tried to squirm away.

"Danielle, I'm fine."

Chilled energy seemed to be radiating off of him in waves. He was most certainly _not_ fine, and she was sure he _knew_ it. She glared up at him, tightly gripping his arms. Every second seemed to be tainted by the wintry feel beneath her hands, penetrating with crystal clarity through the fabric of his own suit and her gloves as if it was nothing. Again he tried to pry himself free.

"No, you're not, Danny."

The smaller half-ghost dragged him with one hand through the air to the nearest rooftop and landed lightly on the gritty surface. Next to her, Phantom skidded to a stop, barely catching himself with her arm before he toppled over. She felt another stab of ice beneath her fingertips.

"What's going on with you?"

Danny finally pulled away, shivering and wrapping his arms around himself with his back to her.

"N-nothing."

Danielle clenched her fists.

"Tell me, Danny." She threw a hand in the air. "Just a second ago you were fine, and now you're…" she noticed the tiny ice crystals forming over his suit, making it sparkle in the faint light from the stars and from the streetlamps below, "…freezing…" she finished with a gasp.

She shot forward, a hand meeting his glistening shoulder, and spun him to face her. He hissed in pain at the sudden movement, and nearly lost his footing. Danielle grabbed a hold of his trembling arms and forced him to sit on the cemented rooftop. The ice forming on him started to get thicker, and he squeezed his eyes shut. It weighed down his usually fluffy white hair.

Danielle ignored the cold feeling seeping into her fingers from the icy pulses wracking his body. She stared at him, willing him to open his identical green eyes. She hardly felt or noticed the blue mist that sprung from their mouths. In the back of her mind, she knew what it meant and she subconsciously glanced around, but she pushed the thought away, trying to focus on her supposed cousin.

"Come on..."

Suddenly raising his head, his eyes flashed a brighter green. The brilliant glow made the younger halfa jolt back with a little yelp, releasing her grip on him. Seemingly out of nowhere, the frozen particles hazed off of his iced-over form like they were never there. The glow lit up the half-ghosts' features and the fading mist for a few moments. Then Phantom's eyes fluttered shut, the green light fading, and he slumped forward. Danielle bounced up from her kneeling position and grabbed him, feeling the startlingly still-cold ghost boy go slack in her arms.

She let out a tiny breath of air that she hadn't realized she'd ever been holding in. However, it came as a silvery-blue trail of steam; she noticed it escaped from Danny as well. _Ghost._

"Great. Such _perfect_ timing." Sarcasm dripped from her words.

A strange blast whipped past her shoulder, making her freeze, startled, and she tighten her grip on the older Phantom.

"Perfect timing indeed!" A deep rough, but mechanical voice goaded at her from behind. She whirled around, instantly flinging herself in front of her shivering relative.

A ghostly figure she didn't completely recognize hung in the air about ten feet away from them, his flaming green hair flickering in the night. An obvious metallic gleam shone on his features. Wracking her mind, she tried to come up with who it was. She thought—no, she _knew_ that he'd hung around Vlad's a few times while she was there, hidden away from view with the other clones, but she remembered something from Danny's descriptions, and a name suddenly snapped in her mind. _Skulker…_

Rage tore through her without explanation.

"What do you _want?_" Danielle snapped up at the larger ghost. Her eyes blazed with an intensity she didn't know she had.

"Huh. Feisty, are we?" He examined his non-existent fingernails. "Just your pelt on my wall, Ghost Child."

Somehow she _knew _he wasn't addressing her.

"Like I'd let _that _happen," she nearly growled out the words, narrowing her eyes up at the ghost. Inside, she felt prepared to tear him to shreds. "You're not going anywhere_ near_ him."

For the first time, Skulker got a good look at her. He floated closer, his metallic and empty eye sockets widening incredulously, and Danielle raised her already glowing hands in defense, all for it to blast him to bits.

"You're—" He was cut off by the jolting shot fired at him, and it made contact, hurling him back and onto the roof across the wide alley.

"Too close..." Danielle smirked, and readied herself to blast him again.

She halted when she heard a groan behind her, and she turned her head quizzically towards Danny.

The older halfa attempted to sit up, rubbing his head, and winced. "…Danielle? W-What hap—"

Abruptly a huge blast was flung between them, and it exploded, throwing them away from each other. Danielle had managed to take to the air, but Danny was tossed to the side, letting out a hiss of pain as he skidded on the coarse rooftop.

"I will have **_both _**of your pelts!" Skulker emerged from the thin cloud of dust, looking fierce. He swung to glare at Danielle. "You!" he snarled at the little ghost girl, jabbing his finger towards her, "This suit _just_ got updated!"

It was then, shrinking back, that the younger halfa noticed that the battle armor was sparking around a few seams, but still looked just as dangerous.

_Crap._

Skulker opened fire with some sort of gun on his right arm. With a screech, Danielle desperately evaded the attack and flung herself towards Danny, who was trying to gather his bearings by sitting up again. He gritted his teeth, clutching at his chest. He snapped open his eyes as Danielle landed hard next to him, rolling. She sprung up on her feet by his side, entering a fighting stance.

Dazed, the older halfa became aware of Skulker's blasts narrowly missing them. He gasped, finally realizing what was going on. To Danielle's surprise, he grabbed a hold of her with new strength and threw an ecto-shield around them. Huddled so close to him, the ghost girl could feel him shudder whenever a new wave of cold passed through him. Skulker's fervent attacks only made the onslaught worse.

"Danny!" Her voice was determined. "Let me handle this!"

The ghost boy, bracing himself against the force of Skulker's attacks, outright refused.

"No!" He glared over his shoulder at her in shock.

"Are you _crazy?_" He stopped speaking to sputter out a gasp at the cold energy, which Danielle sensed was emanating from his core. He grunted. "This is _my_ fight. Stay behind me."

Angrily, the ghost girl's eyes narrowed. "What?" She sprung out of his grip and conjured up her own shield, encasing his with an incredibly brighter glow. "Are **_you _**crazy? You're barely _there_!"

It was true. Even though he was crouching, he swayed on his feet, his aura hardly flickering. Still, he heatedly glowered and gnashed his teeth together in concentration. Danielle was sure he was going to collapse.

But he didn't.

With a strange force, his aura jolted in intensity and his eyes glowed fiercely with acid green. His brightened shield broke through Danielle's, shattering and fizzling it out to nothing. She shrieked at her sudden loss of control. Danny continued to force the ecto-shield away, and in seconds it had hit Skulker, pelting him away from them with a wave of renewed energy sparks. With a heart-dropping smash, the robotic ghost was imbedded in the brick of the taller building across from them.

As quickly as it had swept away from them, Danny's ecto-shield dropped, as well as his hands.

His eyes continued to glow far greener than usual, and he side-stepped in front of Danielle with a growl. _What's going _on _with him?_ But she didn't dare question his actions aloud. She peeked around his still-shaking form, looking for where Skulker had landed. The younger halfa could see the massive chunk of metal start to stir.

"Quite a family there, huh, Ghost Child?" The green-flame-haired ghost began picking himself out of the rubble of bricks. Danny, his eyes flashing blue, silently shot him back with a freezing ectoblast; ice began to envelope the roaring ghost as he struggled to escape.

"_Don't come __**near**__ her, Skulker._" His ice blue eyes again began to blaze with flickering green light. He ground out the words. "_Back._ **_Off._**"

He kept up his stance. He was shivering uncontrollably, but he still stood his ground, ready to defend. Skulker continued to try and smash his way out of the ice prison. Tiny cracks were starting to form as the frozen material creaked. The ghost girl was seriously wondering why the older halfa wasn't furthering his attack.

"Danielle." She snapped her head up at Danny's strained voice. His face, twisted in muted agony, was turned toward her. She gapped at the pained look in his eyes, and the shuddering of his whole frame. She gripped his arm. He shook his head.

"Use…use your thermos."

Puzzled for a fraction of a second, Danielle realized that his own had been left with Sam. Currently, she had in her possession one that the trio had given her to use against any ghosts that bothered her. Her hand found the cool metal strapped to her back, and she swung it around, unclipping it in the process. She knew what he was getting at.

Skulker was close to breaking his binds.

Aiming with ease, the ghost girl uncapped the device, finger poised over the activation button. She looked over at Skulker, nearly thirty feet away. A faint smile found its way onto her face.

"See you around, Bonehead."

With that, she slammed down on the button just as the hunting ghost broke free of the ice, and a brilliantly blue-white light engulfed their opponent, sucking him into the thermos as he yelled something about having their hides for rugs by his fireplace. Danielle hastily capped the container, slinging it back over her shoulder.

Next to her, Danny had sunk to his knees. His surrounding glow was considerably weakened. She tried to stifle a gasp, and rushed to his side. He flinched away from her touch, still undoubtedly trying to fight the pain engulfing his core. She could plainly see the way his body shook with the cold strain, and felt the ectoplasmic pulses coming off of him. It was the sense that she was in the presence of another ghostly entity, and that bit was normal enough, but somehow, Danny's felt unusually strange when she focused in on it. _He's there…I can tell it's his ecto-signature…But what's that other flicker?_

The said half-ghost's groan jarred her from her thoughts.

She embraced him reassuringly, and she felt his arms shakily wrap around her. "Danny?" She pulled back enough to look in his tired green eyes. Her face creased in concern. "What just happened to you back there?"

The older hybrid looked away. "I…I dunno."

Dani frowned. "We _need_ to do something about this, you know."

The elder halfa struggled to stand, but with her gentle help, he managed. "I…Yeah. I know. I'm…going to…going to stop by Frostbite's when I…can." He rifled a hand through his snowy hair.

"Well right now you sound like you're going to fall asleep, here." She couldn't hide the silly laughter from her voice. He groaned in response, but there was a hint of a chuckle. She slipped one arm under his and around his back, and then slowly floated into the air, supporting him.

"I'm taking you home, sleepyhead. Before you conk out here."

"Okay…Dani." He tiredly leaned into her shoulder as she carefully flew them to FentonWorks.

* * *

The ghost girl easily phased them through the wall to Danny's room. The second his bed came into view, the boy flopped down onto it with a huff. He didn't even bother to change back to his human form.

Chuckling, Danielle turned to leave, but a hand caught her wrist. Looking back, she saw that Danny had rolled over on his messily covered bed. He looked up at her with tired, yet determined eyes.

"Stay here."

_Here we go again._ The girl inwardly sighed.

Danielle shook her head. "No. I can't, Danny."

The ghost boy looked at her skeptically. "You say that every freakin' time. I'm tired of that answer, Danielle," he said softly. "You know you're family to me. Why can't you just accept that you're welcome _here_, not just in Amity Park?" His green gaze was unwavering.

Dani refused to move. She searched his face, trying to see a way out of it, but she knew that even if she bolted right then, he'd go after her, as tired as he was.

_No way outta this one…_

She hung her head in defeat. "Alright…_fine_," she grumbled, folding her arms and looking around the room. "Where's the sleeping bag?"

An accomplished grin lit up Danny's face. "Ha! I knew it!" He swiftly gathered his comforter around him and rolled off the edge of the bed, landing on the floor in a heap of sheets. The muffled answer came as, "Check the closet, cuz."

Trying to hold back laughter and be as quiet as possible, Danielle slid open the closet door and rummaged around inside until she felt a fluffy fabric beneath her hand. She pulled out a faded blue sleeping bag, the color rippling beneath the faint light from sticker stars on the ceiling. Tucking it under her arm, she returned to the other side of the room and switched to her human form in a quick flash of bluish-white light.

It felt good to feel her beanie resting atop her black hair.

Her now blue eyes noted that Danny had promptly curled up into a tight ball half-on-top of and half-under his white and blue blankets, his back pressed against the side of his bed. A soft snore already escaped him. Still in ghost form, his soft white hair lay messily atop his head, and for whatever reason, his spectral tail was in use, the end flicking this way and that in his sleep.

Not wanting to really bother him, the girl tugged the rest of the blankets over him, till only his face and snowy hair showed. He fidgeted, hands no doubt wrapping around his torso as he clearly curled up tighter. Guilt swarmed in her chest.

_Can't have him freezing again…_

Danielle threw the large sleeping bag down next to the pile of blankets and, kicking off her sneakers, burrowed into the blue fabric. She smiled, warm and content. For the first time in a long while, she felt safe as she drifted off to sleep, with her close family no more than a foot away.

The streetlamp outside continued to illuminate the city brick.


	4. The Lab

_**[A/N]: **_Greetings. Lovely time to be alive, isn't it? Summer. Ah.

Anyhoo, I bring to you the next installment of this story. Please, tell me what you think. All criticism is highly appreciated.

Behold, Chapter 4, "**The Lab**"!

* * *

The ghost boy tossed and turned in his sleep, mumbling incoherently.

Sizzling cold erupted from his core, forcing him awake with a scream. Danny shrunk in on himself, fumbling at his chest as thousands of ice particles crystallized all through him. Black dots seemed to suffocate his vision. Freezing ectoplasm pounded in his ears like blood roaring through human veins.

Somewhere next to him, a startled voice cracked clearly into his range of hearing.

"_Wha—_"

A small shriek sounded close by, and he tried to gather his bearings. He forced the sharp jabbing pains down, and attempted to focus on controlling the chilling waves that he knew where coming off of him. Ice threatened to completely cover his form.

Holding back a yelp, he clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, shoving the cold back down. Pulse after pulse, he mentally latched onto the icy tendrils stemming from his very center and forced his core to snap back into control. He felt his eyes flash open, unseeing in his agony but blazing green, and any ice left on him evaporated away.

Immediately, the ghost boy uncurled himself and slumped back onto his side, burying his face in his hands with a groan. _Why does that keep happening…_ He felt a set of delicate fingers on his shoulder, and he squirmed away, tightening himself back into a ball. Absolutely everything hurt.

The sound of his sister's soft voice made him crack open an eye. Leaning over him with worried eyes was Jazz, kneeling right next to the crumpled ghost boy.

"Jazz?" He coughed, his voice quaking. "What're…you doing here?" He shakily sat up, rolling so that his feet rested on the floor with his knees bent. He squinted up at her.

"Give a guy some space, geez." When he fully blinked, the redhead smiled. Everything blurred into his vision, and after a moment's pause, he could see fairly clearly again. He was huddled in his thrown bedcovers on the floor, where he'd fallen asleep, and Sunday morning light filtered through his windows. He looked up at his sister again.

The older girl stood, dusting her pant legs off. "It's okay, Danielle. If he's complaining, he's alright."

Danny, who finally noticed the little ghost girl sitting on his nearly blanket-less bed, rubbed his head, rolling his eyes. "You know me _so_ well, Jazz." His core twitched. _Okay…maybe not._

Danielle hopped off the bed and skipped over the blankets strewn on the floor, finally reaching the older halfa. She threw her arms around his hazmat suited shoulders, grinning like mad. "I'm just glad you're okay!"

Returning the hug carefully, trying not to bother his ghost center, he glanced up at Jazz. "What even happened, anyway? All I remember is going to sleep and then waking up to freezing my butt off." Danielle let go, giggling, and sat on the floor beside him.

His fairly tall sister began to answer his question. "Well, I was in my room reading another book for a multi-source report at school, which is really quite interesting, actually, and–"

"_Jazz._"

Puffing, she cut to the chase. "_And_, little brother, Dani here came running in, babbling about how cold you were, and she dragged me over to help out." She shrugged. "But you seemed to take care of it yourself."

"Ugh. Yeah." He rubbed at his chest with a gloved hand, earning worried glances from his relatives. His head snapped up. "What?"

Jazz took a step closer, fiddling with her pointer fingers. "Just, are you _sure_ you're alright now?" She came down on one knee again, putting a comforting hand on his arm. His core tingled in a mixture of ice and prickling pain, but he suppressed a groan. Jazz instantly drew back from his chilly form, a gasp escaping her lips, but catching her gaze, he saw that her aqua-blue eyes shone with pure concern.

He grunted, looking away. "Yeah."

Jazz's brow creased. "What's going on with you? There's definitely something on your mind."

"Nothing."

"C'mon, Danny, tell us," Danielle piped up, prodding him in the side. He grimaced, not fully able to hold back a grunt of pain.

"Uh…"

"And why are you so cold?" Jazz pressed. "How come you were practically frozen solid when I came in here?" She stubbornly rested her hand on his arm again. He could feel the cold seeping into her fingers.

He hugged himself close, avoiding her gaze.

"Something with my core. 'S not a big deal. I can handle it."

"It doesn't _sound_ like it's not a big deal, Danny." His sister narrowed her eyes.

"I'm fine, Jazz. I just wore myself out practicing duplication. It takes a lot out of your core, ya know?" He shrugged off her hand. "I'll get to Frostbite when I can."

Jazz tilted her head questioningly. "You mean that big fluffy yeti-ghost you were talking about?"

"Heh. Yeah. That's him."

"How's he going to help?" Her voice sounded unsure.

Danny rolled his eyes pointedly.

"Again. We both have ice cores. It's completely normal for his people. He helped me when my ice powers first started showing up."

He looked over at Danielle. "If you're anything like me, you've gotta have an ice core, too. When I can, I might as well teach you what to do when your powers come in."

"Awesome!" The girl fist pumped, but glanced at her relative again guiltily. "But…uh…I'll wait till you get better…with…that."

Danny snorted, despite weakly getting to his feet. "No way. I could totally show you right n—"

"Daniel James _Fenton!_"

Everyone's head snapped to the closed door, eyes wide. Maddie's swift footsteps could be heard starting up the stairs.

Danny whipped his head towards Danielle. "Hide!"

The girl instantly went invisible.

Jazz sprung up, grabbing her brother's arm. "You need to turn human! Now!" Her eyes anxiously darted towards the door and back at him.

Looking down, Danny instantly realized he was still in ghost form. No wonder he felt so pleasantly cold once his core settled down.

"How long have I—"

"Now!"

The footsteps only got louder.

With a grunt, he squeezed his eyes shut tight, and reached for the warm, _human _feeling deep within him. He gasped as he felt the blazing white rings wrap over his body, leaving behind what he knew would be his human self.

Only he felt like he'd suddenly been hit by a freight train.

Jazz caught him before he hit the floor.

A half-contained shriek came from her. Their mother's footsteps seemed to thunder in the boy's head, his acute hearing subconsciously focusing in on the sound. He groaned, leaning into his sister's grip. However, with no warning, he was flung backwards, and he hit something soft, but it felt like cold metal nails were being driven into his skin. He didn't have the energy to cry out as a heavy mess of what could only be blankets were thrown over top of him. He curled up in the fetal position and gnashed his teeth together.

Through the cold fire burning in his chest, he searched desperately for an escape from the pain. He tuned in on the words that came, surprised, from his opening door.

"Jazz? Why are you in here?"

"Just…uh…trying to wake up Danny! Yeah, that's it! Come on, little brother. Rise and shine!" She shook the mass of covers.

It wasn't that hard for him to let out a pained moan.

"Well, tell him he needs to come down for breakfast. It's Sunday, after all."

"Sure, Mom."

The footsteps faded away and out of reach. Jazz unceremoniously tore the covers from his crumpled form. He curled tighter into a ball. There were icy, and yet scorching pains blossoming in his chest so fiercely that he thought he would explode. He desperately searched for a way to fight the pain.

"…Danny?" He heard Danielle's venturing voice.

He took a shuddering breath and shoved away the painful prickles in his chest, where his ghostly core would lie. Even in human form, it was easy to pick out the cold loftiness within him, and that alone was often reassuring. But now, with the hurt accompanying it, he knew something ridiculous was up. It took quite a lot of effort to push the sensations away, and prevent himself from getting a single shard of ice covering over him. _Ugh…when will this __**end**__…?_

After several long moments of being cramped in a ball, Danny slowly relaxed, taking in the sense of laying on his soft bed. The hybrid let out an uneasy breath. His barely-there core squirmed in his chest, but he ignored the feeling. He could feel both Danielle and Jazz sitting next to him on either side, their stares trained on the freezing halfa. Tiredly, he cracked open a blue eye.

Identical blues stared back at him, and he lurched backwards, straight into Jazz. His sister gripped his shoulder worriedly. Her face screamed concerned confusion. He glared up at her.

"What?"

She didn't drop her intense aqua stare, now questioning.

"What just happened to you? When you transformed?" Jazz narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Even for a half-ghost, that wasn't normal, was it?"

Danny knew damn well that she knew it wasn't normal at all. _He_ wasn't normal. But he had to give an answer, or his analyst sister wouldn't stop fast enough.

He averted his eyes. "No, it wasn't." He shoved himself off of his bed, biting back a cry. _Every move I make, my core just decides to friggin' rip me apart._

"But Danny, what…what's going on, then?" Danielle looked up at him, eyes wide.

He gazed back, unmoving, trying to mentally stop the throbbing in his chest. He couldn't lie. At least not entirely, with this.

_I __**have **__no idea what's going on._ But he couldn't say that, either.

"Core stuff." He turned to the door. "Let's get breakfast, Jazz." The older halfa glanced over his shoulder, back at the younger girl in the room.

"Stay here, Danielle. I'll bring you up some food." He smirked. "Don't even think about leaving."

Jazz gave the smaller girl a quick farewell hug, and followed her brother out the door with a wave.

* * *

It was no secret that the oldest Fenton sibling was highly fond of the little Phantom, immediately taking on the big sister role of her the day they met. Of course, Danny was even closer to her, as she was his clone. But recently, she'd felt much more alive, not to mention safe, and a part of the family, no matter how secretive the aspect was. In truth, she loved the two young Fentons, and even sort of thought of Danny's friends as extended family. She completely cared about all of them.

As her kin exited the room, Danielle smiled to herself, but her blue eyes shone with worry.

* * *

It was like he'd walked right into a deathtrap. As soon as he set foot in the kitchen, a loud blaring instantly sounded, and his parents jolted up out of their seats at the table. To no surprise, they already had their ghost weapons drawn in a matter of seconds.

Upon seeing it was just their son, with hands held up in anticipation of some anti-ghost goop being thrown at him, however, their expressions instantly turned somberly irritated. They lowered their weapons and hung their heads, glaring at the infernal device on the table.

"Blasted thing still doesn't work right, Mads." Jack began fumbling with the Fenton Finder, the boxy device's screen blinking red and the beeping softening.

"**_Welcome to the Fenton Finder. Multiple ghosts detected._**"

A smile sprung to the Fenton parents' lips. Maddie grabbed a hold of the instrument and began following the rhythmic beeps showing where the target was. Jack trailed behind her, bouncing on his feet like a child receiving candy.

Danny shared a look with Jazz, but didn't back away like he had so many times before as the device honed in on him, the beeps increasing steadily. He knew for a fact now that his parents would dismiss it as a bug in their equipment, yet again. In reality, all of it was usually scarily accurate.

"**_High concentration of ectoplasmic matter dead in front of you. Multiple ghosts detected._**"

Danny quirked an eyebrow as his mother came up to him, gazing intently at the tracker. _Did it pick up Danielle, or…?_

"**_Entities concentrated in one form. Multiple ecto-signatures detected. If you cannot locate this mass of condensed ghosts, you must simply be blind_**_,_" the machine blipped, much to Maddie's obvious annoyance.

The violet-eyed woman huffed, looking up at her son.

"I'm sorry, Danny. We still need to fix that," she said, obviously referring to how all of their ghost equipment constantly keyed onto their own son.

Jack took the device from his wife's hands, his dark brows furrowing in disdain.

"I just don't understand why it does that…" he grumbled, and prodded a few of the controls again.

The halfa unblinkingly stared back, his mind whirling. _Multiple ecto-signatures? What the heck is __**that**__ about?_

Maddie turned away, and back to the pancakes sizzling on the stove and the large plates she had prepared on the counter. Jack cleared away the table for once, and sauntered back down to the lab with the equipment.

"**_Thank you for using the Fenton Finder._**"

Danny seemed lost to the world.

Jazz had to wave a hand in front of her brother's face to get him to come out of his daze. He blinked and shook his head, quickly finding his chest with a hand as his core jolted. The hybrid felt the humming of barely bridled energy beneath his fingertips.

_It must've been those energy spikes and drops. Yeah._

Jazz kept giving him worried glances, but he shrugged off any attempts of questioning.

When his oafish father returned, the family of four settled down to eat at the kitchen table. Jazz and their scientist parents talked about school, among other things, like the projects they'd been working on in the lab, but Danny established that it was hard to concentrate on conversation, his stomach growling as he scented the food for the first real time since he came into the room.

The smell of the freshly flipped pancakes was _delicious_. As the whole family began to eat, Danny found himself scarfing down his food in less than a minute. The floury breakfast left a pleasant taste in the halfa's mouth, and he half-lidded his eyes as he leaned on his elbows at the table, fully content with a full stomach.

Until his core seemed to spasm and he sucked in a breath of air, his eyes darting frantically around. No one appeared to notice how startled he was. That time, it felt as if there had been a slight _shift, _and he'd certainly been aware of it. He resisted the urge to put a hand to his chest.

Refraining from scrunching his face in pain, he excused himself and snuck a few of the extra pancakes onto a plate with syrup and a fork for Danielle. He marched up the stairs to his room, his mind dwelling on his ghostly core as it seemed to itch. _I really, really need to get to Frostbite._

School the next day was going to be _great_.

* * *

It was nearly a week before Danny got a chance to even get anywhere near the lab.

For days, he'd been milling around the door, waiting for his parents to emerge. He knew they came up the steps from some time to another, but only ever one at a time; the lab was never empty. On the rare occasion that they actually went to bed in their usual space, Danny was either off battling ghosts with the help of Danielle or too tired and drained from the fights to gather up the motivation to get down there. Not to mention his random drops in energy. As the week wore on, he began to feel considerably worse, but tried to hide the effects of his 'malfunctioning' core.

He had found himself constantly aware of the pulses from his chest, and how his hand always seemed to find its way over the place of his core. By the day, he'd noticed that he just felt so much _better _in his ghost form than as human, and honestly, it unsettled him. But all too often, the temptation of cold overtook him.

The relief of tension in his chest felt incredibly assuring when he felt the chill of his ectoplasmic skin engulf him, and his eyes blaze green. He even went as far as to stay ghost when in the house. It wasn't like his parents were coming up from the lab, anyway.

School had been no better. For the past few days, he'd managed to avoid Dash, but his pulsing core kept him plenty occupied. The ghost center had constantly throttled him, and he had found it difficult to focus in his classes. Or at least harder than usual.

More than once, he'd become so cold that he'd had to sneak off and force out the freezing energy so he didn't ice-over in the middle of class. Coupled with the occasional ghost, his teachers were none too pleased. Sam and Tucker had stuck with him, though, covering for their friend when the time called for it.

However, spectral activity seemed to have plummeted in the last day. Even Danielle, who popped up every now and then to see how her favorite relative was doing, noted this as fact every time she came back late to sleep on his floor. She'd taken to getting rid of most of the minor ghostly nuisances, despite the older halfa's protests that he could handle it. More than half the time, he was by her side anyways.

Nonetheless, there were numerous times that his ghost sense had gone off, only for no wandering spirits to be found. This greatly unnerved him, but the ghost boy assumed it only had everything to do with whatever was berating his core. The lack of ghosts was a blissful peace he enjoyed every second of.

Now, he stood in front of the lab door, the stoic quality of the solid structure seeming to stare back at him in the dead of night.

"Here goes nothing."

He phased right through, switching to ghost form in the process. The delicious cold that radiated from his core stretched through him like ice, and he let out a sigh. For the past day, the painful pulses had reduced to a dull, but bearable ache. He didn't question the sudden relief.

Carefully floating down the basement steps in the gloom, he looked around once more, taking in his surroundings and making sure that his parents were indeed out of the lab. A few minutes ago they had clambered up the stairs to bed, mumbling out their goodnights to their children. Danny had jumped at the chance.

The first thing he noticed was that the portal to the Ghost Zone was wide open, most likely left that way by his father, forgetting to lock the immense contraption that Friday night. The swirling green light illuminated the room, and it drew the halfa closer, only for him to bump into a large lab table set slightly in front of the portal.

"Whoa."

Littered across the surface were several anti-ghost weapons, all looking fairly threatening; none of which Danny found familiar. The ghost boy edged away from the equipment.

"_Those_ are new."

So that was what his parents had been working on. Updating the entire Fenton arsenal. He made a mental note to steer clear of the new stuff.

He set his feet down on the floor of the lab and looked around again, stepping towards the portal. He stood, arms folded, in front of the green vortex. His ghost half longed to escape into the void, and he was just about to plunge in when he heard a light thump and a whisper of, "_Crud_," behind him. Sighing, he stepped back and turned around, only for his gaze to meet nothing. The ghost boy rolled his eyes.

"Come on out, Danielle."

A few feet from him, the little ghost girl blinked into existence, a sheepish grin on her face. She swallowed, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Heh…hey…"

"You can come with me, you know," the older halfa said, smirking.

Instantly, Danielle perked up, her green eyes shining. "Really?"

Danny shrugged. "Yeah, I don't see why not. You should meet Frostbite, anyway. He's really cool."

"Yes!" The little half-ghost nearly squealed in delight, jumping at Danny and smothering him in a tight hug. "Thank you thank you thank you!" Something in his core flickered in a sharp jab of pain and he hissed.

"Easy, easy!" He lightly took his relative's hands away from his shoulders. "We can't have my parents waking up now, can we?" He chuckled, trying to forget about the throbbing in his chest.

"Ehehe…yeah. Wouldn't want that happening." Danielle hesitantly smiled. The two Phantoms turned towards the ghost portal then, the green glow captivating them.

"So are you ready?" Danny asked, tearing his gaze away to face her.

The younger halfa looked up at him, excitement gleaming in her eyes.

"You bet I am."

They stepped into the green, their forms shadowing for a moment before they disappeared completely.


	5. Shattered Fragments

**[A/N]:** _Don't kill me._

* * *

The second Danny had flown into the Zone, he couldn't believe how energized he felt. The remaining ache of pain in his core was suddenly gone, like a one-hundred-fifty-pound weight that had just been lifted off of his chest. It was replaced by a crackling liveliness that he hadn't gotten close to in what seemed like ages, but was very similar to the alertness he'd had the week before. Renewed energy flowed through his limbs from his ghostly interior, picking up on the force of the realm. To the half of him that belonged there, it was a welcome, exuberant tingle in the back of his mind.

But in all seriousness, he felt better than he had in months. Cool, reviving shivers continued to tingle on his ectoplasmic skin, like the blast of an air conditioner on a hot summer's day. Lightning seemed to crackle behind his eyes. It was as if he'd had a year's worth of sleep crammed into a minute. Maybe even a second. Strangely, it reminded him of the moment of his first downfall in the past week.

The rush of the Ghost Zone in his head would have decimated all of his worries right then and there, had it not been for the sub-zero energy that seemed to fidget strangely in the center of his chest.

_What the heck is that? _He sucked in a breath at the chill that seemed to surround him. The icy burn of ectoplasm that had flared up at the edges of his ghostly center was practically ticking in time with his core. He could have sworn his aura was flickering brighter. _Must be because of whatever this actually is. Maybe a new ghost power…?_

He shook his head, relishing the strange feeling of powerful freedom the Ghost Zone brought him. _You have to focus_. _Get to the Far Frozen._ After a week of this torture, he'd finally be able to get some answers, and Frostbite could fix him. Maybe teach him a few new techniques to battle whatever his ice powers were degrading him to. Soon he wouldn't have to worry about his core.

_Hopefully._

"Whoa…" Danielle blinked rapidly, and twirled around, trying to take the new realm in all at once. "This is the Ghost Zone?"

Of course. This was her first time to the ghostly dimension, tucked away in the shadows of the living plane. He really should've taken her here ages ago. He felt so _alive_, why shouldn't she?

"Like it?" Damn, he sounded half-drunk.

Danielle continued to gap at the huge expanse of the place, completely oblivious to his airy tone. "_Like_ it? It's freaking amazing!"

Chuckling, Danny grabbed her wrist and pulled her further into the green, towards what could only be the direction of the Far Frozen. It wasn't hard for him to pick up on the icy aura that the place emanated. He flew at a steady pace.

_Home._

He nearly stopped midflight at the thought. _Home…? What? _He shook his head, flying more determinedly towards their destination. His core thrummed at the familiar pull the kingdom gave him. Not to mention that he was feeling pretty giddy, and it showed in his voice. The ghost boy laughed, feeling, more than literally, light as air. "You should see Clockwork's tower. _That's _pretty awesome."

Danielle happily agreed to visit at a later date.

The green void yawned around them, swathes of ecto-energy shifting and swirling together constantly. Danielle gawked at every single aloft door they passed, and Danny tried to fill her in on which ones belonged to certain ghosts. The two hybrids could sometimes even tell which entity lived at each entrance by the signals of their ecto-signatures. A few conversations about the various specters ensued.

"So that's Klemper's?" Dani asked as they quickly floated by the refrigerator-like ghost door. She made a face. "Why'd he choose to live in a fridge? Does he try to make friends with the leftovers or something?"

Danny couldn't hold in the snort. "I dunno, maybe. He's crazy enough."

Danielle giggled, but then her head snapped up in sudden alertness. Her green eyes seemed to lock onto something in the distance.

"What?" Danny tilted his head, scanning the area around them for any threats. It wasn't like he _wanted _to run into any enemies right then. He squinted, trying to make out vague shapes in the depths of the Zone. A green glob here, a few floating rocks there…a tiny, barely formed ghost _way_ over that way…

Wait.

"_Pfffftahahaha!_"

Danielle gapped at him, her mouth falling open and her cheeks burning. She scrunched her eyebrows together in a miffed gesture.

"What?" She challenged him at eye level, "What's so funny?"

Phantom floated higher, still chortling. "It's just that…ahaha…you think that _that_ little guy's a threat."

The ghost girl swished her snowy ponytail indignantly.

"Well it is, isn't it? Shouldn't we, like, can it or something?"

Danny let out another laugh. He laid back lazily in the air, eyes half-closed, subtly drifting away towards the Far Frozen. The miniscule, formless ghost disappeared into the distance.

"Dani, this is the _Ghost Zone_," he slurred matter-of-factly, throwing his arms out to each side of him.

His younger relative glided after him. "So? Are we just supposed to leave all the ghosts alone now?"

"Well, duh." Danny flipped over in the air, crossing his arms. "This is like their domain and everything. It's where we _release _them. And, err…it's technically our second home, too, I guess. In a weird sort of way."

"Oh…"

For a while they carried on in comfortable silence, and the area of the Zone grew colder the farther they went. The ghost boy didn't particularly feel like talking. Instead, he relished in the blissful buzz of ectoplasm and spectral energy all around him, a huge grin on his face. He just felt so _good._

_Maybe this was all I needed. A quick jump in the Ghost Zone to recharge._ He mentally slapped himself, grimacing. _No, no, that's stupid, Fenton. Get a grip. What if that's _not_ it?_

He sighed. So maybe this was a bigger issue than he thought. Frostbite was sure to have at least an_ idea_ about whatever the hell had been making him feel so terrible. Even so, just being in the Zone made him feel fantastically energized.

Danny found his gaze drifting towards the doors more and more often. The eerie, floating slabs of ghostly wood, metal, and even concrete looked rather uninhabited, to say the least. But he knew for a fact that other ghosts resided just behind the doors…It was their safe place.

He suddenly felt ridiculous for not really thinking about what the doors were used for on a regular basis.

"Hey, uh…" He swung his head to look at the trailing ghost girl. "I've been thinking. Maybe I should whip up a door for us sometime? A lair? You know, for like if…we ever need to hide out here?"

He had an inkling that they'd need one in the near future, and the thought of a spare hideout had been nagging at him for weeks on end. Wasn't it part of his _responsibility_ to keep her safe?

Danielle gasped. "That'd be so awesome! An extra place to crash." She hovered next to him, grinning widely.

The ghost boy chuckled. "Yeah. I heard you can personalize, like, _everything_." He spread his fingers to emphasize. "I'm up for a space theme if you are."

"Oh yeah. Definitely gotta have a full view of the stars."

* * *

Danny had full-on avoided Skulker's island. The halfa was nearly positive that the ghost would be far more than pissed off now that he hadn't managed to capture and skin his prey, yet again. And Danny definitely didn't want to mess with him with all that still in the mix. It usually took the mechanical ghost quite a while to cool down after their fights. Or hunts. Whatever.

Point was, he'd be screwed if he so much as glanced the wrong way at the place.

So he'd made a slight turn, veering a little ways away from the icy trail to Frostbite's domain, but they were again on track. Unsurprisingly, they didn't bump into anyone else as they entered the much more frozen and barren region of the Ghost Zone.

Not that that glob of a ghost from earlier had really counted for anything.

_That went waaay better than expected._

And Danielle seemed to be fairing very well in the icy cold. It made sense. She was literally him, just swapped in gender, and a little younger looking. She was just as much ghost as he was. And_ he_ certainly felt at home, after all.

After a reasonable time of following his strange sense of longing for the freezing place, Danny could faintly see what appeared to be a gigantic hunk of ice and rock floating in the distance. Danielle peered at it, squinting her eyes.

"…Is that it?"

The older halfa smiled frivolously and yanked on her arm again, picking up speed.

The Far Frozen had fully emerged from the clouds of ecto-energy, radiating with a cold power that called the elder halfa towards it. His core hummed in sync with the cold pulses of the frozen land. Danny was sure Danielle could feel it, too, though. Her eyes widened in eagerness, and she flew alongside him at his breathtaking pace.

The ghost boy easily picked out the immaculate village that Frostbite resided in. It wasn't hard to miss against the rest of the bleak landscape.

Landing neatly on the solidly frozen ice, the two Phantoms were greeted by three of Frostbite's guards, whom bowed to Danny with husky elegance. And boy, did that still bother him. They just didn't _have_ to.

"Hey, guys. Uh, you know you still don't have to do that, right…?"

"No, O Great One. It is our honor to do so." The taller of the warriors replied, straightening. His ice blue eyes were unwavering.

"Um…okay. But seriously, you don't need to." He glanced around nervously. "Uh… as you can probably guess, we're here to see Frostbite." Danny tried his best casual smile, as if this visit were merely for fun.

The third guard simply nodded and bounded off to retrieve the King of the Far Frozen, heavy paw-like feet pounding the ice.

The remaining two towers of fur finally noticed the little ghost girl floating next to their supposed savior. They exchanged confused glances as they took Danielle's appearance in, eyes growing wide. The beasts muttered something in a rough, guttural speech to each other as they waited for their king to arrive; the Phantoms couldn't understand a word.

Danny caught his clone's bewildered look and shrugged. "Don't look at me. It's not like I speak Far-Frozen-yeti-lingo." He made a face. "Or whatever."

"Great One!"

Ah, there he was. Spinning, the half-ghost looked up as he recognized the kind, jubilant tone. His immense friend, a huge ghost with white fur and swathes of ice covering is bulky frame, came sliding towards them. Danny flashed a smile, relief bubbling through him.

"Hey, Frostbi—" His voice was muffled in chilly fur when the yeti-like ghost enclosed him in a crushing hug.

"Ahaha-ah—" His core seemed to squirm. "Ow…" He grimaced, his breath hitching in his throat, and his friend, eyes sharp, undoubtedly noticed.

"What is wrong, Great One?" The behemoth held him at arm's length, studying him closely.

Danny suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable, and the relief from before became a twisted knot in his stomach. All of the good vibes from the Zone came crashing into a condescending feeling of dread. The shifting cold in his core didn't help much at all. He got a crazy notion that there were ice cubes squirming in his chest, and he sucked in a breath.

So much for feeling better.

"A-actually…I—"

"No way. You're _way _too fluffy to be Frostbite." Danielle piped up, having finally found words in her awe of the gigantic yeti-ghost.

The King of the Far Frozen's attention snapped away from Phantom to the ghost girl, and he smiled kindly, dropping his enormous arms at his side. Danny let out a relieved breath and tried to recompose himself, rubbing distractedly at his chest.

"I must say, Danny Phantom, is this the little one you have spoken so fondly of?"

Caught off guard, the older halfa blinked confusedly for a second, cleared his throat, and chuckled. He pushed Dani closer to the ghost.

"'Spoken fondly of'? I thought it was complaining."

Danielle swung to look at him, a smirk on her lips. "Hey!"

Frostbite thundered in laughter and knelt on the snowy ground in front of the little halfa. He opened his arms wide. "Greetings, Young Phantom."

Danielle joyously jumped into the fuzzy arms—or, really, one fuzzy arm— of the king, and giggled. "For an ice ghost, your fur is really soft."

* * *

"So, what brings you back to the Far Frozen so soon? You have control of your ice powers, do you not?"

The three of them had holed up in Frostbite's lab, away from the snow and ice. Clean, pristine equipment overwhelmed the walls and shelves all around them, and a few of the king's people scurried about. Nearly every one of them shot glances towards the halfas, all too intrigued. The head ghost of the frozen wasteland studied the boy curiously. Phantom seemed to be acting incredibly nervous. He couldn't help but wonder how much reign he had over his powers right then.

Am _I in control?_

Uneasily, Danny felt like Frostbite was inspecting, no, _scrutinizing_ him, at a distance. And he supposed he was, in a way. The ghost's careful gaze seemed to bore into his skin, and he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.

He probably looked like a sheep cornered by a pack of hungry, slavering wolves. He picked at the black hazmat material covering his arm, and gritted his teeth. At this point, he wasn't really one hundred percent sure that he was even _remotely_ in control. Or if he knew how to answer that question. After all, over the past week, ice had seemed to cover him at the most random of times.

"Uh…maybe…?" He tried to avoid his ally's piercing gaze.

Frostbite narrowed his eyes in response. "Whatever do you mean?"

_Come on, think! He's here to help you, remember?_

So he changed his tactic, practically blurting it all out.

"Er…No, I don't think I'm really…in control. At all. Last week I was practicing duplication…and…uh…My powers are all out of wack now. I keep losing energy, and then the next second I'm covered in ice." He pulled his arms close, fingers fidgeting in his gloves.

Frostbite stood still, studying him. He gulped, nervousness welling in his throat.

"I've tried everything that you taught me, and it seems to work for a little while, but then…it doesn't, and I'm stuck back at square one." He cast his eyes down, suddenly finding the primitively ornate stone tile to be the most interesting thing in the world. Silence hung in the air for a moment. Frostbite seemed to be waiting for him to continue his ramblings. So he swallowed, and took a deep breath.

"I don't know what's going on, and it's all really…_really _weird. But the worst part is, it feels _super _tingly"–he jabbed a finger at his chest—"right here."

Frostbite stepped closer, a caring expression lighting his features. He clasped a large, furry hand on the ghost boy's shoulder, signaling for the half-ghost to continue speaking. Danny was struggling to get the question out.

"Um…s-something's wrong with my core…Right?" The halfa craned his neck to stare pleadingly up at the yeti-like ghost.

"Perhaps, Great One."

His suspicions were confirmed. Frostbite knew something about whatever the hell was going on. _Something_. The need to find out _what_ rushed through him like lightning.

"This very well may be…but Great One?"

"Erm…yes…?" The looming ghost stalked away from him, almost pacing, huge hands behind his back. He continued to question the young hybrid.

"You have heard of splitting, correct?"

Danny tilted his head to one side.

"D'you mean practically tearing myself apart to make copies? Yeah, of course."

Frostbite shook his furry head with a strange calm, like a parent explaining something to a small child. "No…that is…not exactly what I meant."

Exchanging a confused look with Danielle, the ghost boy gulped, his throat suddenly feeling dry.

"What did…What'd you mean?" His icy friend gave him a knowing look. Danny merely stared back, confused.

Frostbite rumbled in soft laughter. "Alright, Great One." He half crossed his arms, his index claw tapping his chin like he was in deep thought.

"It's just that you should really know by now what your 'cousin' here actually is to you."

Both Phantoms instantly moved closer to each other, Danny wrapping a protective arm around the younger halfa. The two relatives shared a quick glance. _Umm…_

"What—" the ghost boy shook his head for the billionth time**,** "What do you mean?"

Frostbite straightened, sympathetic amusement playing in his kind yellow eyes.

"Ghosts can be created in one of three ways." His tone was even, but he paused for a moment, considering to revise his statement.

"Half-ghost formation, like yours, Danny, is a different subject entirely." Frostbite clasped his hands together; one ice, one fur. "But back to ghosts."

"Obviously, after a souled creature dies, it can become a ghostly entity. However, as you know, ghosts can also reproduce to create new ones." He looked at the two young halfa's again. Danny shuddered, his hand held closely to his chest, but Danielle nodded, clearly wondering where this was going. Danny absently thought of Box Lunch.

"In nearly the same way as humans, a set of mates can combine their ecto-energies together to create offspring." Frostbite obviously noticed the grimaces on the teenagers' faces.

"Ew." Danielle stuck out her tongue. "That's not what happened with _your_ DNA to make _me_, is it?"

Danny's mouth hung agape. This was freaking ridiculous. Mouth twisted into a scowl, he shoved her away from him and crossed his arms indignantly. He _so_ didn't need to hear that. "What! No, gross! Get your mind out of the _gutter_, man! Eck."

The little ghost girl giggled, obviously knowing full well that that _didn't _happen. "I know, I know, just kidding. Geez."

"You _know _that that freaking Fruit Loop spied on me and stole my DNA. You were a clone. And you're not mindless. You freaking know. There's no other person involved."

The petite girl rolled her eyes at him mockingly. "Except maybe Sam…"

The older halfa's face was flushed an odd shade of green. He smacked his forehead in frustration.

"I _swear_, Danielle…"

The Phantoms where interrupted by Frostbite, yet again softly clearing his throat. They looked up. _Right…_

"…And the third way, is by permanent duplication." Both half-ghosts stilled, and Danny absentmindedly brought a gloved hand to his chest again. The damn fidgeting wouldn't _stop._

The ghost girl blinked. "Uh, what?"

"There are two classifications of permanent duplication. The one I am referring to is rather important to your existence, Young Phantom."

Danielle scooted closer to Danny. For a few moments, all the two hybrids could do was stare back at Frostbite. The yeti-like ghost kneeled down to be at their level.

"Great one, what is this little Phantom to you?" He turned a huge hand towards Danielle.

A thousand things flew into his mind at once. _Family. Danielle. Little sister. Halfa. Strong. Dani. Stabilized. Anger towards Vlad. Brave ghost girl. Protect. Safe. Clone._ It was obvious by Frostbite's tone what he wanted to hear.

"Sh-she's supposed to be my clone. Why?" Frostbite ignored the side question and pressed on. Danny wondered just what the hell his gigantic ally was getting at.

"And how do you feel about this…'clone'?"

Danielle looked up at her original, a nearly unreadable expression playing on her face. But Danny could see right through it. It mirrored his own with shocking clarity. He knew the answer.

"…Protective. I'd do anything for her. I need to."

Frostbite nodded. "I believe that when a ghost's matter is harnessed and put through a cloning process, it reacts differently than human DNA. Namely, it multiplies, similar to regeneration, but into a different form. The result is like any other child. It would be a type of reproduction, so to speak."

The two halfas blinked, Danny furrowing his eyebrows.

"So you're saying that like…since I'm half ghost…when Vlad tried to clone me…he wasn't actually _cloning_ me?" He shifted in his seat. "At least not on purpose, anyway."

A huge weight lifted off of his shoulders. This was so damn good for her. No more doubt, no more questioning her existence. Danny could actually _feel_ the glee bubbling off his counterpart. A smile graced his face.

Danielle looked excited. "So I'm _not_ a real clone?"

The vast white-furred ghost flashed his fangs in a friendly smile.

"By ghost standards, not at all. Some of us are highly capable of producing others all on our own, regardless of gender. If one tried to 'clone' a ghost, they would merely be stimulating an artificial creation of a new being."

He looked up in thought. "One that's not very stable by itself, however."

The female half-ghost winced. Danny focused his gaze on his hands, curling his fingers uncomfortably. They didn't need the reminder.

"Well, I guess that would explain why she's the complete opposite gender…" He scrunched his eyebrows together in thought. "And how all the other…clones…didn't _really _look much like me."

But Frostbite had only been told the story; he hadn't the faintest idea of what the other ones looked like at all. Or how they'd _acted_. Danny shivered, remembering the horror of discovering that clones of _him_ had worked for _Vlad._ That Vlad had even ventured so far into his sick-minded obsession to _make_ clones of him.

Unaware of the silent moment, the huge ghost pressed on. "But given this new information on permanent duplication…what is she to you?"

Danny froze for a second, a sudden flicker of realization spreading through him and sparking in his core. _Oh…_

He looked Frostbite in the eye as he wrapped his arms around the ghost girl, and the words fell off his tongue with surprising ease. "You're saying she's like my daughter, aren't you?"

The beast of a ghost nodded, smiling. "No matter how a permanent duplicate is created, it is still technically offspring, by ghost law."

Man, he hadn't seen that coming. It had to be a total fluke that he'd guessed right. But he was actually…mostly fine with it. He laughed at the absurdity of it. Danielle? His daughter?

Danielle huddled closer to the older Phantom and looked up at him, playfulness dancing in her eyes. "New introduction." She held out a hand. "Hey, Dad."

Danny took it and gave it a shake, an equally as mischievous glint in his green orbs. "Daughter."

Of course, it was practically all for show. He and Danielle knew what they were. Just family.

Frostbite rose to a standing position, carrying on for the world like a nonchalant doctor explaining this for the hundredth time.

"The instincts you feel towards each other are natural. Do not be afraid because of your age as humans. Offspring and parents are supposed to be very close in bonding." He cast a sidelong glance at them as he readjusted the clasp on his cape with his large hands. "Being closer in age may very well help with this."

Exchanging perplexed looks with the older halfa, it was Danielle's turn to question Frostbite.

"Okay…uh, not to be like a broken record or anything, but what's that supposed to mean?"

Chuckling, the immense ghost answered. "Oddly enough, it seems you've already made a sibling-like bond, although it has glints of parental qualities." He eyed how Danny held the little halfa close to him, casual, but almost protective.

"If I am correct, paternal instincts will take over when they are needed, or your bond will develop into a more 'father-daughter' one over time." The huge ghost shrugged. "It all depends."

The older halfa looked at his relative for a quick second, sharing her gaze. Then they both burst out laughing.

Frostbite stared back at them, bewildered.

Then Danny, his face aching from grinning, turned to again face the Far Frozen King. "I think the sibling one is gonna stick. At least, that's what's been happening for a while now, anyways."

Danielle piped up, "Yeah. The way I…came into existence…wasn't exactly natural for a ghost. _We_ aren't natural. Our bond as relatives isn't, either." She gave Danny a gentle hug. "All I know is that he's family, no matter what he can be called."

The older halfa's smile was warm, and he knew he looked like an idiot, grinning like that. His core pulsed with a feeling of kinship that threatened to make his eyes shine with tears. He blinked. Somehow realizing the truth felt incredibly good.

"Thanks, Dani." But damn, something nagged at him that _he _should have told _her_ that. Not the other way around. She was the one that had been questioning her existence for a whole year. Which, in turn, amounted for her whole freaking life. Who was he, to let her wade through this all on her own, alone, so often? He wanted to kick himself.

But there was another matter at hand, and it clicked. He paused, and turned his attention to the other spectral entity in the room.

"Wait…what does this have to do with my…uh…problem?"

"Tell me, Great One, have you done any duplication exercises as of late?"

The question took him aback, as sudden as it was, and his mood plummeted like a cold stone in the pit of his stomach. The fact that the leader had guessed what had happened so_ easily_ was a bit more than unsettling. The room, if possible, felt considerably colder, and Danny shuddered. Anxiety coursed through him.

And there it was again, that itch that he couldn't scratch, on the inside of his chest.

Frostbite looked at the halfa with a serious curiosity that slightly unnerved him. Danny shifted uneasily on the ice bench. If anything, it only increased the slight shivers running through his form. What was wrong with him that was so painstakingly obvious to the older ghost?

"Uh…yeah? But how'd y—"

"I believe I may know what is going on with you, Great One." When the boy's face lit up, the yeti-ghost gently shook his head again. "It may, however, be something difficult to get used to." One could practically see the glee fall from the boy's face.

_He _has_ to know what's going on…it can't be that horrible, can it?_

"Allow me to explain something to you." Frostbite gave the young halfa a calming smile, but it only made Danny feel more nervous.

"Undoubtedly, there is much knowledge of the enigma of ghosts that has escaped you, Great One, due to your half-ghost status." He turned, starting to pace back and forth in front of the two Phantoms. "This is something that it's high time you knew."

He halted, and taking Danny's questioning look as a cue enough to continue, he did so.

"It is possible for some ghosts to be capable of reproduction through splitting, a form of permanent duplication."

The boy's dark eyebrows knitted together. _Uhh…_

"Again, splitting. What the heck is that? I've known about like…how humans…you know…and you just explained most of the ghost stuff…but…what?"

"The start of the process occurs when the ghost makes a large store of concentrated ectoplasm surrounding its core, and duplication is used extensively. When the duplicates can no longer stay stable, a large portion of energy rebounds into the ghost, as the remnants of the duplicates. These traces combine with the large build-up of concentrated ectoplasm, and form into a smaller core, similar to the parent ghost's."

The yeti-like spirit slowly approached the two Phantoms sitting on the ice bench, who were staring at him with highly confused expressions as they tried to process the words. Danny was frantically trying to wrap his mind around how this had anything to do with him.

"For a length of time, the parent ghost holds within them the beginnings of the child ghost core, and when it is stabilized, it 'splits' off of them, forming into a new, separate ghost, akin to its parent. Their features are not identical, but quite similar."

The older halfa's face seemed to contort into an uneasy expression, sick even. He felt like something should have been dawning on him by now. His mind swam in circles.

"I believe that, based on your symptoms—"

Danny froze.

"—there is most definitely another ghost core forming within your own." The furry white ghost's yellow gaze zeroed in on the halfa. "Future young, if you will."

There was a slight pause, like a giant whirring fan had suddenly been jammed, and then genuine laughter came from the hybrid sitting before him.

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Another snort. "Dude, you just basically told me I'm like…pregnant or something."

He couldn't hold in the snickers, which were quickly turning into manic guffaws. Several of the Far Frozen's people's stares began to draw towards their huddled group.

Frostbite just ogled at the ghost boy. "I…am not 'kidding' you. By human terms, I suppose you are…that…but for ghosts, this is simply called being expectant, or "with core". Even "with young" is acceptable. But it is not the same as humans. It is all in the cores. No solid bodies are formed until after the process of splitting from the parent is over with." He set his jaw in thought.

"From what I have seen, the coalescence is rather instantaneous."

Danny wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. His cheeks were definitely sore from laughing so hard. What kind of joke was this?

"Ha! Good one, Frostbite. You really had me goin', there."

The yeti-ghost looked incredulous. With narrowed eyes, he rose up to his full height in front of the halfa. The dark shadow cast by his huge body blocking the light was menacing enough for the hybrid to snap his mouth shut and stare up almost fearfully at the bristling ghost. Frostbite nearly growled his words out with an air of calm certainty that prickled to the core.

"I am telling you the truth, Danny Phantom. I speak no lie."

You could've heard a pin drop.

He was serious. _He was __**serious.**_

"**_What?_**"

The screech of horror echoed throughout the large room. All of the Far Frozen in the space started and turned to stare at the halfa, now. A thick silence followed. No one moved.

Danny's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. His jaw could have practically been heard hitting the floor. Unhindered, his mind flew into a panicked whirlwind of disbelief. Words tumbled out of his mouth on autopilot.

"But how's that even possible? I didn't…"

The world seemed to be caving in. His hand found his chest. He could feel the cold wisping around in his core, so much stronger than before. It wasn't the normal feel of cool spectral power at all.

A tiny memory flitted by his mind's eye; freezing energy slithering in his chest, him crumpling to the ground as every duplicate he'd managed to throw into existence vanished within seconds. He remembered the protectiveness he'd felt wracking him every time he so much as caught a stare. The sudden ups and downs of energy. The love of staying ghost.

A jolting thought came to mind. It taunted him in a crisp, synthetic voice.

_"__**Multiple ghosts detected.**__"_

And Frostbite sure as hell didn't have any reason to lie to him.

This _had_ to be some kind of sick joke.

…Right?

_Oh my __**God**__…_ He jerked his head to face Frostbite with wide green eyes and took in a shaky breath. His face twisted in dark realization. Danielle silently sat next to him, rigid, just as shocked.

His mind screamed at him to say something. Anything. To prove that this was all a dream…and he'd wake up in a minute or two, because _there was no way in hell that this was happening._

"Great One, it seems to me that you have yet to find out quite a deal about our kind, and just what exactly you are." The gigantic yeti ghost rumbled with a deep chuckle, seeming to regain his friendlier attitude, and leaned down towards the two Phantoms.

Danny hardly noticed.

He couldn't think. He was shuddering from the initial shock and sudden pulsing cold rising in him once more, and struggled to control his erratic breathing. Danielle gripped his shoulder, trying to calm him.

Unbidden, his core seemed to writhe in his chest again, and it was suddenly even harder to suck in air.

He scrabbled at his chest with frantic fingers, and _there,_ his freaking core—_was it even his?_— seemed to shift around. The scream clawed its way out of his throat like a deranged animal. He toppled off the ice bench, smacking against the floor. He didn't move.

This could _not_ be happening.

It wasn't even anywhere near plausible.

"...Danny…?"

The sound of Danielle's voice, scared, stirred something in him.

"How—W-what?" He slowly looked up towards Frostbite again. He felt crumpled. Dejected. Utterly, terrifyingly sick.

The towering ghost only gave him a reassuring smile as he lifted the ghost boy back onto the ice bench with no effort at all. As Danny shakily righted himself, Danielle tightly gripped his arm. He didn't look at her. He didn't look at anything. Ironically, he felt hollow.

Frostbite sat down with a creak on the slab of ice, waving his people off, who were still standing like ice sculptures in the lab. A few started to slowly back out of the entrance to the cavern.

"You have many questions, Phantom. It is alright to ask them. I am here."

Danny sputtered, hunching over with his elbows on his knees. His gloved hands weaved rapidly through his hair. He felt like ripping it out.

"_Questions?_ You think I have _questions? _No, I have a giant freaking…freaking apocalypse happening here. _Plus_ heaps of questions."

"Great One—"

It all suddenly clicked. He knew. But he sure as hell didn't want to accept it in the least.

"_What the fuck, Frostbite?_" The words out of his mouth took on an echoing quality, and the yeti-ghost visibly flinched. Danny's eyes must have been a pure, blinding green by then.

This was all too much.

"_How am I going to __**do**__ this_?" His voice came out in a hoarse, urgent whisper-shriek. He sideways glanced at nothing, his eyes darting and unseeing, and then back at Frostbite. Swiftly turning, he held his hands to his chest and let out a distressed cry to the ice ghost.

"_How am I going to keep my __**secret**__?_"

The large white ghost put—what was supposed to be—a calming arm around the trembling Phantom. "It will be alright, Great One."

Danny snapped up, wriggling out of Danielle and Frostbite's grip. He floated into the air and turned to face them with hurt in his green eyes. He felt like crying. The ghost boy's arms flailed wildly in the air.

"No. _N-nononono._ It _isn't_ going to be alright. How can I possibly **_cope_** with _this_?" He sounded hysterical, and he knew it. Not that he cared.

"You're telling me that this whole weird, heavy…_itchy_ feeling in my core and all of these…these _problems_ are because I'm practically _pregnant_?" He was screaming now.

And he found that he wanted to. His Ghostly Wail seemed extremely tempting right about then.

"This is **_ludicrous!_**"

He wanted to bash his skull against a wall, or maybe the ground was better, because who knew what kind of sharp rocks and ice would drill their way into his skin? Anything to wake him up from this damned nightmare.

Then more of the sailor of a teenager in him slipped out. "There's just no way. No fucking way."

He was hardly aware of Frostbite shuffling towards him.

"It is alright—"

"Nonono. This is bad. **_So_** bad." He drifted to the ground, shivering as he touched the icy stone. He wrapped his arms around his torso, drawing his knees to his chest.

"D-Danny—" Danielle started, but he cut her off.

"What the **_fuck _**is this? This…this isn't normal! I shouldn't be able to **_reproduce_** _on my own_. What kind of messed up bull is that?" His eyes looked crazed, and his teeth chattered.

"I'm the freaking ghost kid! A half-ghost! A _guy!_ I'll have a ton of creepy scientists on my tail now, if not already. Not to mention my parents." He reached his hands up to his head and nearly pulled himself bald right then and there.

"My parents! They're going to rip me _apart_ for this."

He rose in the air again, pace-floating back and forth.

"How am **_I_** going to be a parent? _I'm only sixteen._ Nowhere near graduating _high school_. My grades are already shitty. And now I'm going to literally be a completely single father raising a _half-ghost_ kid? That sure as hell sounds like the universe is _collapsing_ to me." He buried his head in his knees, sinking back to the floor, a wail escaping him. "_My life is __**over**__…_"

"_Danny_."

He fell dead silent, a sob half out of his throat. He didn't dare to breathe, for fear he would burst out bawling. _What are you_ **_doing_**_, Fenton? Get it the frig together! You can handle it. You got yourself into this mess…_

He could hear Danielle cautiously approaching him, and he tensed.

Screw it. He damn well deserved to have a nervous breakdown.

He curled tighter into a ball; his younger sister, or, _offspring_ or whatever even the bloody hell was happening with that right then, was only a few feet away. He was starting to freeze over, and he didn't know how he _had_ the energy to even be Phantom right then.

Tears were streaming out of his eyes, but he was too confused to care.

Danielle repeated his name, and he shakily looked up at the sound of his relative's voice. She came closer, wrapping her arms around him in a tender hug. Suddenly the ice stopped spreading over his body.

"It's going to be _alright_. I'll make sure of it." He leaned into her embrace, again attempting to control his trembling. His core only kept giving off more pulses, continuing its onslaught. _What makes it __**my**__ core anymore?_

"But it's not…It's_ not_ okay."

"Yes, it is." Her voice was stern, much too old for her twelve-year-old self. The realization hit Danny with the force of a bus. _She's so freaking young._ _I need to get it together._

_But how the actual hell am I going to be able to go through with this? It can't be happening. Nonono…It's _not_ happening…_

There was a huge silence that settled over them for several minutes, and out of the corner of his eye, Danny caught the curious, alarmed looks that Frostbite's people were giving him from the opening of the lab. His eyes clouded over, emotion springing to them.

He heaved a long sigh, but it gradually turned into a low keening as Danielle held him like he was practically two. He sobbed into his arms with vigor.


End file.
